#lioness rambles

[lionessfeather]

Still with the re-reading the books and. Something just struck me.

Rankin, the guy we all love to hate (for excellent reason). He would have been raised with the expectation that he would succeed to Celeritas. I mean, Celeritas said that Rankin's grandfather was his first handler - given that Excidium is a century old, and still expects to have Emily, of course it would have been assumed Celeritas would remain part of a formation. Yes, he may only be a mid-weight, but even so; he was clearly not old enough yet to need to retire.

On top of that, as per Black Powder War, the most promising cadets become runners by age 10. We know that Rankin joined the aviators later than normal, so say he joined around age 10, expected to start as a runner straightaway (of course. I mean he is the son of an earl you know. an old aviator family).

Having set all that up,

“I have been flying courier duty since I was twelve years old; I can damned well smell a storm,” Rankin said flatly (Tongues of Serpents)

That means Celeritas refused him almost on sight. Because there would need to be time a) for the Admiralty to admit there is no way to make Celeritas take him, b) to come up with the notion of making him a courier instead, and c) for an egg to hatch where Rankin could take it. Then for Rankin to be trained enough to be allowed to fly courier duty, and I think that may neatly cover those two years and get us to age 12. I don't like him any more for this, but damn. That's got to be hard on someone raised with that amount of privilege and expectation. And given his character, no wonder he takes it out on poor Levitas. (I mean, he's 12. Humans aren't known for being great at emotional intelligence at that age. That said, still an asshole and a gaping flaw created through immense privilege and expectation).

[guardianlioness]

🛡️🦁About Mera🦁🛡️

[Mera, Messenger, or GL • Writer and Fan • Certified Fandom Adult]

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[wutheringmights]

After I finished reading The Epic of Gilgamesh today, I entered a fugue state where I sat down and read the entirety of Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.

On the record, I have had a lifelong love and adoration for Pierce's Tortall books. I first read the Song of the Lioness quartet when I was 11, and they rewrote my brain. I love them so much. I reread them and the other Tortall books on a semi-frequent schedule.

It's been a while since I reread any of the Alanna books, if only because my sister took our shared copies when she moved out. I've been meaning to buy my own set for a long while now but haven't been able to justify the purchase. The other week, I just so happened to find the first two volumes at my local indie bookstore. I bought them immediately, as well as ordered the third and fourth book. (And discovered that the store owner knows me by name-- when I went to pick up my order, she saw me and said, Hi Frankie! I got your books over here.) (I may be spending too much money there.)

So I have been in a bit of an emotional rut these past few weeks. Work sucks. Life stinks. The temptation to run off to Tortall and curl up in the fantasy story that captivated me as a kid has never been stronger.

Ergo, I ran off to read the first book as soon as I could.

If you're looking for any critique of this book, series, or Tortall in general, I will never give it. Sure, it's problematic and dated, and in many ways imperfect, but someone else can list out all of its issues. They're all perfect to me.

Anyway, the book. I should say something about this book in particular.

One thing I appreciate about Pierce's writing is how she handles school settings in fantasy. Learning and training is so mundane. All of her heroines have to work hard and put in extra hours of study in order to improve, much less keep up with their peers. It's so normal that it circles around to being weirdly refreshing.

Also, there is still no other fantasy author who handles period talk and birth control the way Pierce does. We make fun of the trope of fantasy birth control nowadays, but I rarely see it presented as it is here: as a part of normal puberty lessons and given long before sex is in the girl's radar. And even today with the glut of YA fantasy stories out there, I still have yet to see menstruation be portrayed as frequently or as bluntly as Pierce writes it.

There was a period of time publishers really tried to push the Tortall books as straight YA, which doesn't work for that reason alone. You gotta market them to middle schoolers. They're the ones just starting puberty talks, and getting scenes like this is so good for their brains.

Moving on: I fucking love these characters. Alanna was an icon of brash, temperamental heroines that have shaped my taste to this day. I love how even in the first book, Jon is kinda shitty. I adore George Cooper. Talk about a taste maker the way this man sets a standard.

I just can't be coherent when it comes to any Tortall books. I have no thoughts. Head empty. I am going to binge the rest of this series as quickly as I can before my library book comes in. Then normal book content will resume.

Before I go, I need to talk about the book covers.

Growing up, my sister and I had these covers:

Which, god. I love them. The black is striking. The art is incredible. Alanna looks so good. They were the perfect pocket-size too. I was going to buy the same edition for my copies, but instead I got the 40th anniversary reprints:

Not bad at all! These books have had some seriously bad covers, and these look great! Very anime, which will appeal to the 11 year olds who need to have their socks rocked by this series.

But, man. I really miss those black covers. One day I will splurge and buy a second set of them just so that I can stare at the art.

[leahsgf]

when Georgia and Keira babysit bubba, georgia refuses to do any of the hard work and is strictly there to play games and get baby cuddles

there’s a reason they always look after you as a pair.

because georgia is quite literally only there to be ‘the fun auntie not the serious one’ (her own words)

she will spend the entire time causing absolute chaos with you in tow, constantly either plotting to scare poor keira who’s just trying to get your next bottle ready, or getting more invested in your toys than you are.

and best believe she’ll be passing you to keira immediately whenever you need changing, feeding, or quite literally anything that looking after a baby entails.

and then immediately taking you back when you’re ready to cuddle afterwards.

nap time will almost always consist of you asleep on the sofa on top of georgia, who had also crashed out, having completely exhausted herself playing with you, like a second child keira was tasked with looking after.

and if keira dared ask for georgia’s help, or protested for even a second ?

“we just have different roles kei, it’s like instinct! she’d get confused if we switched up.”

[saintdollyparton]

You're telling me Stephanie Nur looks like THAT AND she speaks fluent Arabic, German, and Italian?! Oof, I am too gay for this!

[chimaerakitten]

Hi i ADORE the essay (ariticle?) you wrote about Tortallan heraldry! Is there anything you'd like to see Pierce incorporate more into the Tortall series in that arena? Any fiefs you want the coats of arms for or anything like that?

oooooh good question! I definitely would love more data points in general, just to see whether any of my theories are correct—a few more knights' shields might tell me if bordures have a meaning in Tortall, and if that meaning is related to the Lady knights' Orle at all—or I might be able to find out when the nontraditional tinctures were introduced, and which ones are common compared to others. I'm particularly curious about Naxen and Queenscove in this aspect, as they're some of the oldest and most powerful fiefs in Tortall, with the mosts knights contributed (I believe Neal also lists Legann and ha Minch as among the oldest) and that data could be very helpful, as currently Conté is the only house we 100% know goes back to the founding of Tortall. We know Macayhill is in the Book of Gold, and probably so is King's Reach and Queensgrace before it rebelled, plus Haryse and Masbolle, but it's not 100% confirmed that the families in the book of gold predated Tortall as a nation or if they were simply enobled very early (and besides, we only have arms for Macayhill and King's Reach, of that list) It's also like a sample of the arms of families explicitly in The Book of Silver, so I can properly place things on a timeline better than "Macayhill oldest, Mindelan newest" I'd also love to know how Tortall handles grants of arms precisely. Getting a knighthood is obviously directly tied to getting an arms grant ("getting one's shield") but clearly some people get arms of their own (Alanna, Kel) and some people maintain cadency labels (Conté heirs) or are granted arms that are identical to other members of their families (Kel implies her brothers have the same arms, which...defeats the entire purpose of individual heraldry...) having some sort of arms is inherent to knighthood in Tortall, but there's clearly some changes based on circumstance behind the scenes, even if it is only a matter of request by the knight/preference by their family/special arms being awarded for special distinctions like being the First Lady knight in centuries. More data would help me puzzle that out, I think. On a similar note, I'd also like to know how non-knights get arms—if they're allowed to use their head of house's arms plus cadency and inherit arms when they become head of house by default even without a knighthood, or if they have to have completed some form of education, or hold a position at court, or what. There's at least two coats of arms in the meta belonging to people (the second aspen vale son who's a mage and George Cooper) who definitely aren't knights, and I'd like to know how that works when arms are part of the award of knighthood.

[petite-ursus]

Ok, so now I am of course relistening to the Protector of the Small series. Alanna thoughts.

Thinking about Alanna's fingers "itching to heal" even Wyldon's arm.

It's who she is.

Thinking about how badly she wanted to help Kel, just as a regular mentor. She probably pictured they'd have a game of chess in the evening like she did with Sir Myles, discussing life and what Kel was going through... with the addition of a wave of her hand, easing away the odd black eye. Of course she would know how rough and tumble being a page is, and healing Kel after a rough day would have been a matter of course for her. Seamlessly fitted into this image of mentoring the next girl page. She could heal Kel, and so she would and she wouldn't even think about it. (If Sir Myles had been gifted, he'd have done the same for Alanna.)

So there's Alanna's frustration at not being able to help as a mentor. Understanding what it is like to bear the isolation of being the only girl (even if her friends didn't know it.) And then there's not being able to help as a healer. Which is a huge part of her character and how she "repays." Especially as a woman who knows what it's like to be a beaten on page., and how it feels to believe you just have to "take it" and figure it out on your own.

And despite that mentality and the thing that set her apart, she had friends (plural) as a page, right from the start. Because only she knew she was different. Yes she had a bully, but he was singular, not systemic. Even without her peers and Sir Myles, she had Coram. She had people constantly offering help. Her journey was learning to accept the help that was always there.

In contrast, she knows Kel is very much alone (with few exceptions.) More bullies than friends. Even the teachers target her. It takes weeks for anyone besides Neal to even speak to Kel. She's alone. It's Page!Alanna's biggest fear: everyone knows how Kel is different, and YEAH they actually don't like her for it. Alanna didn't want Kel to be alone, on any level. She wanted it to be better for her not (in so many ways) worse.

So there's all of that and she knows Kel is in extra unnecessary pain every day.

Despite being blocked from helping directly, we know she has So Many Eyes on that girl. General consensus from the servants and Sir Myles must have been "she's plucky for sure; she doesn't show how much it hurts, but the boys are essentially beating on her every day. If it's not from being rough in training, or making her slip on oil/literal urine, she's being literally hit in fights. She's bruised somewhere different every day."

She knows how it is, to be afraid that showing that any of it is getting to you will mean everyone loses all respect for you. She knows how lonely that is, even with friends.

So. Her fingers itching to heal. To help. The bruise balm. Absolutely packed with magical strength. As much power as she could possible force into the concoction. So much frustrated Care that it makes Neal yelp. Her first something to say "someone cares; I know what you're dealing with, and it doesn't need to hurt this bad. I don't want it to hurt this bad."

Edit: and I know she gave a knife first but that's Different to me. More broad "good luck" and less specific care.

[mercurycft]

I'VE MISSED YOU - UPDATE <3

happy humpday everyone! I hope you are well and have been reading your hearts out over the last few weeks. I wanted jump on and give you all a little update on my absence.

to start, thank you all so much for the constant support and love in both my anonymous messages, as well as messages from friends and the non-stop stream of love on all my work even in my absence! - i appreciate you all so so much!

life over the last few weeks has been stressful, and filled with so many emotions. i finally figured out that maybe i put so much effort into my online personality and writings because i was actually really not pleased with who and where i am away from tumblr, the internet and my favourite woso community. In the past weeks, i have redirected my current course of life and i now am feeling so so so much better.

i decided to remove myself from my university until september, get a full time job in a sector which fascinates me and leave home for a little while. as a result, i am doing so much better and the difference a few weeks/a month makes is unbelievable.

i cannot tell you all how grateful i am for each of my readers and followers and friends i have made on this strange, but beautiful app and if you will have me - i will be back to my writings pronto!!

if you made it this far, thank you.. enjoy what's to come.. i promise it is 'TOO SWEET' after all your patience. as usual, love always - RG x

[cybernecromancer365]

Episode 8 had me choking and weeping!

I cried for Aaliyah and Cruz, so much. I loved their moments together.

That beautiful scene where they're walking at sunset. They both look so beautiful and you can feel the restrained love between them. I felt Aaliyah's the most.

Then Aaliyah in the bedroom 😭😭😭.

THEN Joe and Cruz at the end 🔥🔥🔥. Holy shit the tension!

OMG THIS SHOW! TAYLOR SHERIDAN THANK YOU! AND I NEED TO SEE MORE ZOE SALDANA! Please make season 2.

I really liked this show. In my heart Aaliyah and Cruz will always love each other. I think they might even meet again ❤

I also really liked Nicole Kidman in this. She surprised me quite a bit!

[mr-and-mr-mitchell]

Not been said here but I fucking Love Lucy Bronze and the Lionesses.

Final Here We Come!

[goingsparebutwithprecision]

Rereading Alanna The First Adventure for @teachingmycattoread and loving the repeated "Alex can't come to the phone/city/shenanigans/plot right now, he keeps getting stuck with extra Ethics homework For Some Reason" 🤣🤣🤣

[lionessfeather]

So I've been re-reading the Temeraire books and something struck me - everyone can always tell a dragon's sex, immediately. Which, if we're talking British aviators and British/French/general European breeds, that is entirely fair. They'd be used to those.

But Laurence - who has only been around dragons for a year - can tell which adult Kazilik is female, and Iskierka is "she" from the moment she's fully out of the egg.

More importantly, he's done that before - the ferals in Turkestan are also either he or she. And with the Tswana, he immediately identifies the King as female as well. Or Kulingile, who is an experimental cross (sidenote but why, after 800 years, is this the first time they've crossed two heavy-weight combat breeds?), and deformed, and still immediately clocked as male.

Which means it can't just be about general build, colour, conformity, or even horns/spikes (since it can be done for any dragon, regardless of breed, including ones with "spikes all over"). Do dragons just. Have a very big block and tackle to the point where if you can't see it, it's a female? Maybe a specific arrangement of scales around the nose? (I know the Doylist explanation is that Novik just wanted to call some dragons she, deal with it) Edit: This was actually addressed in Blood of Tyrants! If I'd just read on a page or two, I would have found:

"Take cups! Help yourselves!" the dragon said, sprawling himself across the floor - or herself, Laurence belatedly corrected, when some portions of anatomy were thereby more exposed to view; he had been mistaken by a series of low finned spines which curved out from the dragon's body along its length.

[orcaog]

cirrus and cumulus routinely saying things like "my head is in the clouds", "on cloud nine", "every cloud has a silver lining"

[wutheringmights]

I finished rereading The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce a couple of days back. I already talked about the first book in a post that garnered more attention than it deserved. I guess we were all happily reminiscing about the menstruation scenes together, or Tortall fans are so starved for content they (we) will reblog anything.(Understandable. I too am starved for a thriving Tortall fandom.)

I'm too lazy to make separate posts about each book, so we're just going to do a mega post covering the second, third, and fourth book.

Unlike last time, I will be giving a little criticism to this series. I still love it endlessly, but there were a few things about the prose I thought was interesting that I want to talk about a bit.

So, without further ado~

In the Hand of the Goddess

I think this one is my favorite one, despite how rushed the plot it. It contains all of my favorite plot points, like awkward romances with George and Jon, attending knight lessons, and a little summer war. Fun stuff.

But it definitely feels rushed. I really wish someone told Pierce to make this a 12 book series, expanding on Alanna's years at the castle. It would have gone so far to better develop the romances and the friendships in these books.

I am fascinated by what Pierce chose to skim over. Characters would die or kiss for the first time off screen, with the prose resuming with Alanna reacting to it. It demonstrates an understanding of character work that I personally adore and try to emulate in my own writing-- the real bones of a story being in how characters respond to fantastic events as opposed to the fantastic events themselves.

Also, the whole veil spell Roger cast in objectively stupid, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. You're telling me that Roger used magic to make Alanna lose interest in doing anything about the obviously evil things he was doing? That's fucking hilarious. You know an editor came back to Pierce and asked her to come up with a reason why Alanna wasn't just going to spring into action at the first sign of Roger trying to kill her, only for Pierce to come up with this. It's so silly. I love it.

Woman Who Rides Like A Man

Did this book age poorly? Yes, but not as badly as I remembered. That's not a stirring defense, and it's really not meant to be.

The Bahzir are a mess of Orientalism, and Pierce definitely deserves criticism for not only the way she wrote them but for the ways in which she frames their cultural practices as something that needs to be fixed. Having Alanna want to force them to change their culture to suit her beliefs is not a great look for both the character and the writer. And that's not even getting into the whole assimilation plotline.

But I did enjoy Pierce's attempts to expand on the definition of womanhood, especially as a part of Alanna learning to embrace femininity. There is this running thread in these last two books of Alanna learning about all the different ways to be a woman and choosing for herself what her gender means to her. It's not done particularly well, and anyone looking for a revolutionary examination of gender roles and identity is going to be sorely disappointed. But there's an attempt here that I can't help but appreciate.

This book is also where Pierce starts to slow the plot down, which lends it to having the most reasonable pacing out of the bunch. That being said, it's also the book where the lack of development for a bunch of the side characters start to hurt. I really wish Gary or Raoul joined Alanna in the desert. Raoul gets his moment in the sun with the Protector of the Small books, but Gary remains largely forgettable. In fact, I spent this entire read-through convinced this man dies at the end of the last book, if only because I can't remember where he appears in any of the other books.

Lioness Rampant

This book somehow has the improved pacing of the third book while still feeling rushed. The quest for the Dominion Jewel really should have been it's own book, if only to give Thayet and Buri more room for development. Thayet in particular really needs her moment to shine, especially when she continues to be an important character in the other series.

But do you know who did get a lot of screen time? Liam.

Remembered shit about this guy before going into this book. I could only vaguely recalled disliking him as a kid, but not as much as I venomously hated Jon. (Speaking of which-- I love the way this man is realistically shitty. Him getting dumped by Alanna is always my favorite scene.) But Liam? Fuck that guy. Holy shit. I give full applause to Pierce for portraying the important milestones every girl goes through growing up, which includes having a situationship that is so shitty that it becomes essential character development.

Roger's return feels very... cheesy? I think Alex should have stepped up to be the final villain on the story. Unlike Roger, Alex was Alanna's friend. They have history. The betrayal would have imbued that final fight with so many more emotions than it ultimately had. I also would have liked Alanna to have at least meaningfully talked to Alex sometime before the climax.

Honestly, it's impressive how reactive Alanna is as a character in the last half of the book. She doesn't seek out how to stop Roger's plan, or fix Thom, or anything. Other characters make plans and she just... waits for something to go wrong.

That being said, by virtue of Alanna's relationships with George, Liam, and Jon all happening sometime in this plot, this book becomes a good place to look to get the full berth of how Pierce handles romances. Which, I love her approach. The romances are never over the top or, for lack of a better word, too romantic. It's very down to earth, with characters dating, marrying, or breaking up for realistic reasons.

Jon and Alanna were friends who broke up because they had different life plans. Liam and Alanna broke up for having fundamentally different values. As much as I bitch about how shitty Jon and Liam are, they're not cartoonishly evil. They're just a little shitty the way most of your exes will be. Jon and Liam are men could find love with someone else. They just aren't suited for Alanna.

Meanwhile, the most romantic things George does are wait for her and be supportive. He doesn't fight or get territorial. He makes his feelings clear, then waits for Alanna's cues. Alanna definitely loves him, but she ends up with him in the end because their lifestyles and core beliefs meld together. There's no grand romantic gesture or whirlwind affairs. They are just a good pair.

I have read stories with far heavier focuses on romance, and none of those couples feel as perfect as Alanna and George. Those stories prioritize all the gooey moments over showing why the main couple should get together. For how little romantic interactions they have, you believe these two could have a successful marriage. Perfect stuff.

---

Over all, I really enjoyed rereading these books. For all my griping, I still love the story. I love Alanna. She's a character who is fundamental to my soul. No matter where I am in life, I will always want to open these books and find her again, to walk back into Tortall and join her on her quest to be a lady knight.

My copies of the series come with forewards from a previous edition. In one of them, Pierce wrote that this series started off as an adult fantasy story that was much darker and edgier. I need to know what that story looks like, what happened in it. Pierce can claim as she wants that she hardly remembers what it looks like, but I refuse to believe that. Release the unedited first draft, Pierce. I am begging you.

[leahsgf]

seeing a ton of people do this and i am very much a sheep no shame.. so full credit goes to them!

ask me questions about the bubba universe!

i’m finally back to writing again after a crazy busy few weeks & want to get more inspired for my favourite universe :_)

want to know bubba’s dynamic with certain players, what leah is like as a parent, or just snippets of their day to day life?

ask away & i’ll answer all of them as i work through my drafts & finally get some fics out for you 😁

[saintdollyparton]

This show Special Ops: Lioness has got me intrigued. 👀

For the gay, obviously.

Is it worth watching?